Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Back to the Beginning

May 20, 2015

All I can say is, "God must have a quirky sense of humor." The Psalms tell us that God laughs at the vain posturings of mankind, but I think he also derives pleasure from his lesser jokes. About a month ago, I noticed that my hearing aids didn't seem to be handling the task as they had before. I went to my audiologist, who confirmed that one was completely dead, and the other needed tweaking. The problem is, they were on the edge of obsolescence. The one that died wouldn't even link to the computer. It was clearly time for an update.

So the saga begins...

The last time I purchased hearing aids, I had to bear the full cost. Our insurance carrier didn't cover them, which seemed odd to me, since the ability to hear is pretty important in my line of work. It's pretty hard to counsel if you can't hear what the problem is. Fast forward about ten years, and voila! Our insurance will help cover the cost. With one little condition. I have to go through the providers with whom they contract. My audiologist is not one of them. So I head over to a contracted provider, who supposedly handles the same brand that my audiologist recommends, except that he hasn't worked much with that brand (read "not at all"), and prefers a different brand for which my audiologist does't have the software. I've worked with her from the beginning, and want to continue to do so, making this clear to the other provider. At first, he seems OK with just ordering the brand I want, but a week later, decides it isn't worth the time he would have to put into learning the program.

So now I'm on the phone with Rebecca from the insurance plan, who is absolutely wonderful. She calls the provider, trying to convince him to learn the new program, to no avail, and finally she finds a second provider about forty miles away who will work with me. The appointment is arranged, and I call my audiologist to make sure she is willing to work with me to program them. She's not there, so I leave a message.

Tonight, she called back to tell me she'd be happy to work with me, but only for another month or so, since she's retiring. WHAT!!!? All this back and forth on the phone between the insurance people, the provider who didn't want to learn a new brand, and now a second provider; I would have been as well off changing hearing aid brands right from the beginning. I called the original provider and left a message. Maybe he'll be willing to work with me. Maybe not.

Well, I still have my mind. My wife and kids might dispute that, but I can look at all this and laugh. The joke's on me, only I can't hear the punch line. I'm thankful however, that it's not life-threatening, and will be resolved. I will save a considerable bundle over purchasing them myself, but in another way, I think I've paid in full.

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